Drunk Bus Driver Takes N.Y. Students On Wild Ride – WCBS

It was a school bus trip nightmare for students in upstate New York.

A driver is heading to jail after she was drunk behind the wheel with more than three dozen kids aboard.

And as a surveillance video shows, the children were screaming for her to stop.

The video shows the dangerous school bus ride last May in the Alfred-Almond school district in Allegany County. Martha Thompson, 55, had a blood alcohol content of .15. At the time, she thought the children were over-reacting.

Students can be heard screaming, “Put on the break!”

Driver: “Will you guys stop?”

Student: “Well you’re not okay, and I know it.”

The bus hit high speeds, ran over a mailbox and started rolling backwards downhill.

Student: “Turn the bus off!”

Driver: “No.”

Student: “You’re backing into the freaking ditch; you’re making the little kids cry. Stop!”

Finally, the children opened the emergency door in the back of the bus to get out, despite Thompson pleading against it.

Driver: “You can’t get off the bus!”

Now, Thompson will spend the next 12 weekends in jail on her guilty plea to 37 counts of child endangerment and driving while intoxicated.

“I think this was a just and appropriate outcome in this case,” Allegany County Assistant District Attorney Michael Finn said. “A potential tragedy was averted by the grace of God, and thankfully none of the passengers, nor Mrs. Thompson, was injured as a result of this sequence of events.”

Thompson’s attorney blamed her behavior on a little alcohol having a bad reaction with Thompson’s medication.

“She made a very bad judgment,” Thomas Trbovich said. “She’s embarrassed. She’s very sorry to the children. She never, ever would intentionally put any of those children, especially her own, in any type of risk.

“And now she’s getting the help that she needs.”

In addition to 12 weekends in jail, Thompson will be on six months of home electronic monitoring, five years probation and mandatory alcohol counseling.